Commencement day 

ADDRESS 



HON. CHARLES E. HUGHES 

Secretary of State 



BROWN UNIVERSITY 
JUNE 1921 



rubii.\hcLi by 

THE ASSOCIATED ALUMNI 



BROWN UNIVERSITY 



AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BY 

HONORABLE CHARLES EVANS HUGHES 
Brown 1881 

SECRETARY OF STATE 
AT 

BROWN UNIVERSITY 

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND 
COMMENCEMENT DAY, NINETEEN TWENTY-ONE 



Published by 
THE ASSOCIATED ALUMNI OF BROWN UNIVERSITY 



i5i<': 






FOREWORD 



The Associated Alumni of Brown University, in 
sending out this copy of the Secretary of State's 
address, is not considering the momentary news sig- 
nificance which such an address may or may not 
possess. 

The friendship and respect of all Brown men goes 
out to-day to Secretary Hughes. No matter what 
the party politics of the hour may be, men of Brown 
place their confident trust in the calm wisdom and 
strong guidance of the University's loyal and dis- 
tinguished son. 

The address is printed because the Associated 
Alumni believes that the University's pride in her 
fourth Secretary of State can be surpassed only by 
the loyalty of Charles Evans Hughes to his Alma 
Mater. And that loyalty to Brown is expressed 
fervently and without restraint in the Commence- 
ment address. 

But there is another loyalty in the lines, that of a 
statesman and a citizen to the best traditions of 
America. International policies receive little space 
in this address, but the few paragraphs which are de- 
voted to the subject, ring out like a clear bell among 
the discordant sounds of political strife and recon- 
struction discussions. 

It is hoped that the printed address will be accepted 
in the homes of all Brown men, no matter what their 
political faith may be, as an enlightening tribute to 
the College on the Hill and to the country we love, 
by a loyal son of Brown and an eminent servant of 
the American people. 

The Associated Alumni. 






ADDRESS 

OLD Brown is emerging from the period of dis- 
heartening dislocation, which in common with 
other universities it suffered during the war, with a 
renewed youth and fresh resources supplied by a host 
of loving sons and generous friends. For over 125 
years the university kept its accustomed way with 
a steady step and without sensational incident. Then, 
under the vigorous leadership of President Andrews, 
came a time of extraordinary expansion, arKi in a 
few years the number of students and faculty 
trebled, while available resources remained without 
substantial increase. 

The rebuilding of the university and the pro- 
vision of essential financial equipment have been 
achieved during the past 20 years under the tire- 
less and sagacious leadership of President Faunce. 
When in 1914 we celebrated our iSoth anniversary, 
the university funds had increased from the amount 
of $1,125,000, at which they stood at the beginning 
of the present administration, to over $4,450,000. 

But we were then, although we did not know it, 
not merely celebrating our sesquicentennial, but the 
close of an epoch. The new era was upon us. We 
have experienced its birth pains, and the old uni- 
versity has been compelled to readapt itself to meet 



novel exigencies. In the movement for increased 
funds we have gone "over the top" so that in the 
effort to raise $3,000,000, we have secured $3,500,- 
000, of which over $3,250,000 is an addition to 
our income-bearing resources. These resources 
have been increased six-fold under the present lead- 
ership of the university. To-day we salute the new 
Brown. 

I am here, by the grace of your committee, rep- 
resenting that stratum of Brown privilege, discipline, 
happiness and unconquerable youth which bears the 
stamp of the early '80s. It was the day of small 
things — measured in the low calculations of arith- 
meticians — small classes and few teachers. Brown 
had over 275 undergraduates as far back as 1853, 
and there were no more in 1881. We were just 
before the flood. My own class was very small, as 
we graduated but 43, but I would have you believe 
there was rare quality. 

We have Faunce to testify to our virtue, for 
which no doubt he will claim credit as an exemplar. 
Moreover, it was the day of an unsurpassed athletic 
renown, at least upon the diamond. Thanks to 
that extraordinary chum of Faunce, the redoubtable 
Richmond, the first great southpaw, who, aided by 
the valiant men of '81, slew the giants of Harvard 
and Yale and the other Philistines of those days. 



If the faculty was small, it was choice. Let the 
new era match our Lincoln, Harkness and Diman. 
Our friendships, too, were precious, for you cannot 
multiply true friends by additions to buildings and 
endowments. I confess this hour has its especial 
sadness for me, as I think of my classmates who have 
passed away since the last reunion, and I should not 
be true to myself or to you, my brethren of Brown, 
if I did not bring to you the memory of one — the 
scholar in business, the gentleman in industry, the 
man of refinement and inherited wealth, who bore 
the heavy burdens of great organization in order 
that he might enrich this country with an increased 
productivity, a civic servant with the standards of 
community fellowship, the first citizen of a great 
section of the Empire State — one whose roots ran 
deep in Rhode Island soil — Frederick Rowland 
Hazard. 

We look back to the day when this hall was first 
opened to welcome the graduating class of 40 years 
ago. How little we could judge of the abounding 
national life in the development of which we were 
to have a part! I wonder if to-day we can look 
into the future with any better assurance of prevision. 

But this we may know. We have not lost 
the capacity for the high and unselfish endeavor 
which linked us in an unexampled unity and 
joy of service in the crisis of the great war. 



The springs of faith, of mutual trust, of fel- 
lowship, have not dried up. Our men did not 
go forth to fight for this nation as one of im- 
perialistic designs and cunning purpose, or to 
protect a land where avarice might find its 
surest reward. 

They offered their lives, and all the energies 
of the country were harnessed in the supreme 
e£Fort, because we loved the institutions of lib- 
erty and intended to maintain them, because 
we hated tyranny and the brutality and ruth- 
lessness which found expression in the worship 
of force, and because we found our fate linked 
with that of the free peoples who were strug- 
gling for the preservation of the essentials of 
freedom. 

With them we made common cause, and, as 
from one end of the country to the other rang 
appeals in the name of civilization itself, the 
whole nation responded. You cannot obtain 
such a unity of efiFort in this country, with vol- 
untary sacrifice on every hand capping the most 
extraordinary demands of Government, unless 
that efiFort is inspired by lofty ideals. 

It was America, the exemplar of free institu- 
tions, aiding humanity in their preservation, that 
called forth the supreme endeavor. This senti- 
ment is still with us, and after all, despite the need 
of correct analysis and cool judgment in working 



out our economic problems, it is the aspiration of 
our people and their attachment to the conceptions 
of a well-ordered liberty which constitute our secur- 
ity in peace as they proved to be the inexhaustible 
source of national power in war. 

I am immersed in the activities of a public office 
which has a fine Brown tradition. Three of my 
predecessors in office were sons of Brown Univer- 
sity, William L. Marcy, Richard Olney and John 
Hay. I believe that when Olney was graduated 
here, he took for the subject of his address, ''Patriot- 
ism in Literature," and certainly no one has put more 
patriotism into official literature than the great Sec- 
retary of State under President Cleveland. The 
principles advocated by John Hay are the postulates 
of the Department of State. You may remember 
the words of his poem at the centennial of Alma 
Mater: 

'Thus bright forever may she keep 
Her fires of tolerant freedom burning." 

It was the tolerant freedom that young John Hay 
loved which inspired the cardinal policy of the open 
door. 

It would not be fitting for me at this time to dis- 
cuss our foreign relations. But I am glad to say 
that the message of America is one of cordial friend- 
ship to all nations. We have no questions which 
mutual good will and the processes of reason can- 
not solve. We have no subtleties, no duplicity of 



meaning, no soft words to conceal a purpose ot 
self-aggrandizement at others' expense. The only 
method of diplomacy we know is that of candid dis- 
cussion of the merits of problems. This, we think, 
is the way to prosper a cause believed to be just, and 
we shall advance no other. 

The world is settling down, but it is not yet set- 
tled. The counsels of power and expediency still 
dominate, as the serious problems left by the great 
war press for solution. This country seeks not an 
acre of territory by reason of its participation in the 
struggle that lead to victory, nor do we wish any 
exclusive advantages in the possessions which as a 
result of war have passed under new control. We 
simply ask that we shall not be excluded from equal 
privileges wherever our interests are affected. That 
seems to us to be a reasonable position. 

This is a time when it is vastly important that 
the principle of equal opportunity for legitimate en- 
terprise should be maintained in order that in the 
development of natural resources essential to the 
progress and security of nations, there should be a 
fair and equal chance for all. The frank recogni- 
tion of this principle will offer the basis of that 
genuine co-operation of which we delight to speak, 
and will diminish the occasions for misunderstand- 
ing and antagonism. It is believed that inter- 
national agreements may well be made which will 



assure complete reciprocity with respect to oppor- 
tunity in the development of natural resources 
throughout the world. 

I believe that our people are thoroughly deter- 
mined that we shall safeguard our future by reserving 
independence of action in such exigencies as may 
arise according to our conception of duty at the 
time. They are not disposed to put their liberty 
in pawn. Nor is it desirable that our helpful in- 
fluence should be frittered away by relating ourselves 
unnecessarily to political questions which involve 
rivalries of interest abroad with which we have no 
proper concern. 

It is equally true that we cannot escape our rela- 
tion to the economic problems of the world. It 
would be impossible to view with indifference ar- 
rangements which would deny to our people equal- 
ity of economic opportunity or agreements involving 
what we believe to be an unjust discrimination 
against us. It must not be forgotten that the pros- 
perity of the United States largely depends upon 
the economic settlements which may be made in 
Europe, and the key to the future is with those who 
make and control these settlements. 

We desire to see conditions stabilized and a re- 
newal of the productivity which depends upon secur- 
ity of life and property — upon the perception of 
opportunity and the feeling of hopefulness which 



is needed to quicken industry. We desire also to 
find a sound basis for the helpful intercourse of 
peace and to see the beginning of a new era of 
international justice secured by the application, 
through appropriate institutions, of the accepted 
principles of right. 



